DEMS’ (FINAL?) PUSH
Caught between optimism and skepticism,
Democrats are pushing hard for Pennsylvanians’ votes. Will it be enough?
RACHEL WILKINSON
18
+ ENTERTAINMENT
BY MATT PETRAS
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON CP PHOTO
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
PHOTO: COURTESY OF COLIN WILLIAMS
CP PHOTO: COLIN WILLIAMS Allegheny Observatory
STAR TIME
The Allegheny Observatory played a pivotal role in codifying how we measure time
BY: RACHEL WILKINSON // RWILKINSON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Inside the Allegheny Observatory, in a quiet, carpeted room off of one of the building’s rotundas, sits a telescope from the 1860s. Though the Observatory houses three working telescopes under three lofty domes — currently used to glimpse faraway nebulae and hunt for exoplanets — the smaller telescope points to the building’s more earthly origins. Known as a transit telescope, the apparatus was used to measure sidereal time, or “star time,” the basis for modern timekeeping.
At the Observatory, someone would sprawl out in a “comfy lounge chair, because [they] would spend the whole night laying under [the transit telescope],” explains outreach coordinator Kerry Handron, “looking at the
stars crossing over” the sky. Measuring stars’ positions enabled astronomers to calculate solar time, “the time that we use on a day-to-day basis,” says Handron, and the Observatory transmitted that time using a telegraph machine — also still on display today. Pittsburgh has been home to many notable inventions, but our contemporary notion of time itself (aka standard time) doesn’t typically top the list. Yet for a period of about 30 years in the late 19th century, a significant portion of the country operated on Allegheny Standard Time or the Allegheny Time System, as measured at the Observatory. The innovation is highlighted as one of many advancements made at the Observatory on its popular public
tours and provides insight into the city’s industrial past.
Ahead of the end of daylight savings time — another Pittsburgh invention, spun out of standard time — Pittsburgh City Paper visited the Observatory, a designated historic landmark rife with hidden gems including a crypt.
Founded in 1859, the Observatory was originally formed as a private club, the Allegheny Telescope Association — “kind of like a country club,” says Handron. Wealthy industrialists from what was then an unannexed Allegheny City met to buy a telescope, “the magnifying power of which would bring the heavenly bodies near enough to be viewed with greater interest and satisfaction,” reads a founding quote on the Observatory website.
War, as captains of industry focused on the war effort, says Handron, both the telescope and the building weren’t maintained properly. The club voted to donate both to the Western University of Pennsylvania (later the University of Pittsburgh, where the Observatory is still part of the physics and astronomy department).
The same year, the university appointed Samuel Pierpont Langley, an astrophysics professor, as the Observatory’s first director. Langley, also an aviator, modeled aircrafts that predated the Wright brothers; using the telescope to observe the sun’s corona, he drew sunspots so detailed that they still appear in today’s astronomy textbooks.
“IT MARKED THE FIRST INSTANCE OF AN OBSERVATORY MAKING SIGNIFICANT PROFIT FROM A PAID TIME SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE.”
Among the club’s first purchases was a 13-inch refracting telescope, constructed in 1861. At the time, it was the third largest telescope in the world, capable of viewing the moon and planets of our Solar System, and it remains in use today as the FitzClark Refractor telescope under the Observatory’s smallest dome. By 1867, the club had fallen into debt and disrepair. During the Civil
But another lasting contribution, made in order to fundraise and save the Observatory, began with an appeal to William Thaw Sr., principal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one the 100 wealthiest Americans ever (if the Thaw name rings a bell, Thaw Sr. was also the father of Harry Kendall Thaw, defendant in the original murder “trial of the century”).
Thaw Sr. provided funds to improve the Observatory’s equipment, build additional instruments, and acquire the transit telescope.
ILLUSTRATION: JEFF SCHRECKENGOST
Thaw telescope at the Allegheny Observatory
He and Langley quickly realized its huge potential benefit to the railroad industry.
At the time, the Pennsylvania Railroad was “like Amazon and Google [combined] for half the country,” says Handron. “It had all the transportation and all of the communication going from the East Coast to the middle of the country.” At its peak in 1881, the “Pennsy” was the country’s largest railroad, largest transportation enterprise, and the largest corporation in the world.
Yet, 150 years ago, standard time to keep the trains running smoothly didn’t exist. As a 2009 exhibit at the Heinz History Center detailed, before industrialization, most of timekeeping was done by simply looking at the sun and observing shadows while it was at its highest point, à la a sundial.
While the method was inexact, and time would vary by a few minutes from town to town, “it didn’t much matter,” Handron explains. “But now that the trains were going at the unheard-of speeds of 40 miles an hour. You needed to know where [they] were, and you needed them to leave at the proper times.”
Operators also needed to know the local time at two different points to coordinate. Instead, the Pennsylvania Railroad used the time from its Philadelphia headquarters for trains traversing hundreds of miles.
Inconsistencies made travelers miss their trains. More dangerously, operators running on different times caused train wrecks. One of the first timekeeping-related disasters happened in 1853 when a conductor allowed a passenger train to depart one minute outside of its timetable, resulting in a head-on collision in Valley Falls, R.I. that killed 14 people. With money and lives on the line, Langley pioneered a system for accurate timekeeping at the Observatory
and capitalized on it.
One problem with using solar time has to do with our conception of a day being 24 hours long (originated in Ancient Egypt). In actuality, this is an average (mean solar time), as the length of a day varies slightly throughout the year due to the Earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun and the tilt of its axis. There’s also a discrepancy between sidereal time, or “star time,” and solar time: if a day is defined as one complete rotation of the Earth on its axis, its length is actually four minutes shorter than we think — 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds.
A way to resolve this, Langley saw, was to observe stars at their highest points in the sky throughout the day, providing points of comparison to the sun.
Pursuit of these “clock stars” had Observatory astronomers constantly camped out at the transit telescope in the comfy lounge chair. Tracking the stars, the Observatory converted sidereal time to solar time, and Langley sold the time as a subscription service, transmitting it by telegraph. For about $3,000 annually ($72,000 today), Langley’s time system made it possible to know precise local times by converting to
CP PHOTO: RACHEL WILKINSON Transit telescope inside the Observatory
“Allegheny Standard Time.” Railroad operators compared the difference in their longitude with that of the Observatory.
It marked the first instance of an observatory making significant profit from a paid time subscription service. The service’s first customers were Pittsburgh jewelers, who used it to accurately set watches and timepieces.
The Pennsylvania Railroad naturally followed suit. According to the Observatory’s telegraph display, in 1870, the company ran 2,500 miles of railways on Allegheny Standard Time, transmitted through 300 telegraph
offices, and ultimately expanded to 8,000 miles.
By 1890, Langley’s time service had earned more than $60,000 (more than $2 million today), effectively funding the Observatory for decades and charting a course for the national standardization of time.
On Oct. 11, 1883, a group of railroad executives convened at the General Time Convention and unilaterally established four North American time zones. Despite opposition by many Americans that their lives should not be governed “by railroad time,” the new time zones were implemented at noon on Nov. 18, 1883.
With an eye toward environmental activism, the exhibition examines how the change in timekeeping and its sale to railroads ultimately “wreaked havoc on the environment.” In turn, Stettner “pays homage to the individuals and organizations that have, and continue to, champion the health of our skies and communities.” State of the Sky draws from Langley’s own notebooks, where he meticulously monitored Pittsburgh’s atmospheric conditions. Accounts hold that Langley focused his initial research on the brightness of the sun since it was one only of the celestial bodies visible through heavy smoke pollution. An assortment of documents including Langley’s notes, archival materials from Pitt, and government records are displayed against modern news clippings detailing the ongoing fight for air pollution standards.
The exhibition also notes that, in 1912, the Observatory building was relocated to its current site at the highest point in Pittsburgh, in part, “to escape the ‘smoke city’ and better see the stars.”
Crowds of people across the country gathered in front of clocktowers, train stations, and jewelry stores to watch clocks stop for up to half an hour to set the “new noon.” Federal oversight of standard time, including daylight savings, was enacted in 1918.
Part of Langley’s legacy was shaping the future of large-scale industrialization, the effects of which are explored in State of the Sky , an exhibition on view at the Mattress Factory.
“Time, a construct as constant as it is intangible, is a key component of this exhibition,” text from artist Luke Stettner and his collaborators reads.
Today, though stepping into the Observatory feels like going back 150 years, it functions as a modern working laboratory with frequent invitations to the public. On a given night, Handron says, they might be hosting a lecture by astronomy experts, running an educational program for kids like the recent Moon Tree planting, showing around a church group or Scouts, or simply inviting tour-goers and Observatory Hill neighbors to come and gaze into a telescope.
“Langley had a long history of inviting people to come look at space with the telescopes. So the history goes all through the whole thing,” she tells City Paper. “We have the Observatory going back to its beginnings as ‘let’s look at the stars.’” •
CP PHOTO: RACHEL WILKINSON Sidereal clock
DEMS’ (FINAL?) PUSH
Caught between optimism and skepticism, Democrats are pushing hard for Pennsylvanians’ votes. Will it be enough?
BY: MATT
Before the public began to arrive at Acrisure Stadium for the Oct. 15 rally for Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and Minn. Gov. Tim Walz, two people with the Kamala Harris campaign roamed the crowd and approached people for photo ops. One was a woman in pink clothing and a camouflage Harris Walz hat à la Chappell Roan, and the other was a man with a papier mache Walz helmet that at least a few in the crowd initially mistook for a likeness of Bernie Sanders. They circulated as about 500 people gathered inside the cold interior of the stadium — it felt like the 52 degree weather outside.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Vice President Kamala Harris
Walz showed up about an hour late. He gave a familiar speech with his expected folksy charm, contrasting both his and Harris’ humble beginnings and the big plans they have for the country against the affluence and “concepts of a plan” of their opponents. His most notable flubs came when trying to ignore the three protestors removed from the event, at least two of whom were shouting slogans related to Gaza. One younger masked protestor yelling “Free Palestine!” caused Walz to temporarily stumble in confusion. After the rally, a few protestors yelled further about Trump.
While Walz’s rally conjured up common concerns about the Harris campaign — a lack of enthusiasm, haphazard planning, conflict with the progressive base, etc. — other events have painted a much rosier picture. When former president Barack Obama spoke at the University of Pittsburgh on Oct. 11, he drew a crowd of more than 4,000 and brought the house down. Sen. John Fetterman also left the Pittsburgh area to join Harris in Erie, Pa. for a successful Oct. 14 rally complete with the dancing and cheers that elicited the kind of joy promised by the Harris campaign. As the election gets closer and
closer, it appears only tighter and tighter. Even when optimistic in tone, Democrats have used events like these as an attempt to sound the alarm: if the party and its supporters aren’t diligent, Trump and the Republicans down ballot just might pull this thing off.
It’s become a cliché since former president Donald Trump’s upset 2016 win in Pennsylvania and across the country that whoever wins this state wins the whole election. It’s not literally true, but it’s hard to imagine a candidate flopping in Pennsylvania somehow winning the presidency. At the very least, Pennsylvania is part of a
group of about seven states that seemingly could go either way. Polling both in Pennsylvania and nationally have the two virtually tied — as of press time, Harris has a insubstantial lead nationally, and Trump has an insubstantial lead across the state, according to fivethirtyeight's polling averages.
The Walz rally seemed particularly attuned to the reality that Democrats need to fight hard in the Keystone State. Speakers before Walz, such as Mary Gibson, the Pa. Democratic Party’s deputy voter protection director, warned the crowd that, in 2020, despite comfortably winning the popular vote, President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by an average of only about five votes per precinct.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, whose politics seem mostly simpatico with Walz's, emphasized the option of early voting. Wearing an “I Voted” sticker, she told the crowd that she dropped off her early ballot that day at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in Oakland.
“Allegheny County, we’re pretty important this election cycle,” Innamorato said. “The path to the White House runs right through Pennsylvania, and victory in Pennsylvania runs right through Allegheny County. We cannot grow weary in this battle. Our rights, our bodies, our future, are on the line. Freedom is on the ballot.”
The left has regularly criticized Harris, Biden, and other Democrats for not sufficiently opposing the military actions of Israel, and this often materializes in the form of protests by young people. This issue seems particularly troublesome for Harris in Michigan, a swing state with a substantial Arab and Muslim population.
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
V.P. hopeful Tim Walz speaks in Pittsburgh.
Elsewhere, it’s a problem for Harris, but perhaps not a substantial one.
According to a poll by GenFoward based out of the University of Chicago, about 10% of adults ages 18-40 planned to vote for Harris but have been dissuaded due to the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, and just 2% identified “the war in Gaza” as the most important issue. And in one poll done by the progressive think tank Data for Progress, voters ages 18-29 trust Harris more than Trump the least on the issue of Israel-Palestine and also say they “don’t know” who to trust more on Gaza about double the amount of every other issue.
conduct and prepare candidates for job interviews asked questions to DePasquale, Republican candidate Dave Sunday and Forward Party (yes, the Andrew Yang outfit) candidate Eric Settle.
Unlike Sunday, who never discussed policy and sold himself as approaching the job apolitically, DePasquale advocated for a minimum wage increase, explained that better education and mental health services would do the most to prevent crime, and stated he would use discretion to refuse to ever prosecute a woman for having an abortion.
This underscores DePasquale’s treatment of the AG role as more
“THE PATH TO THE WHITE HOUSE RUNS RIGHT THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA, AND VICTORY IN PENNSYLVANIA RUNS RIGHT THROUGH ALLEGHENY COUNTY. WE CANNOT GROW WEARY IN THIS BATTLE.”
Other state-level Democrats on the ballot include incumbent Senator Bob Casey, facing a challenge from businessman Dave McCormick, whose campaign has been plagued by accusations that it’s really most accurate to say he lives in Connecticut. Casey has appeared at various Democrat events, and his campaign hosted a Zoom press briefing on Oct. 14 with top national security experts admonishing McCormick for using his previous hedge fund to manage hundreds of millions of dollars of Russian debt.
Other down-ballot Democrats have taken a more strident tone as a way to draw contrasts between themselves and their opponents.
At an Oct. 23 evening event at Point Park University’s GRW Theater, former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale made himself available for a public “Ultimate Job Interview” hosted by Spotlight PA. Government Reporter Katie Meyer, along with two individuals who work outside of politics and reporting but who often
of a political position than a pros ecutorial one, and it also snugly fits him into the national messag ing of Democrats this election cycle: Republican extremism that threat ens foundational freedoms and functioning of society needs to be met with an alternative.
Media coverage following Obama’s appearance focused on his comments addressing hesitation about Harris potentially becoming the country’s first woman president. Other men, including Casey, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, and Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro, spoke before him to shore up support for Harris.
“Part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Obama said to the crowd.
Obama overcame the enor mous task of becoming the first Black president and ended up, since leaving office, becoming one of the most popular figures in American
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Audience members at Harris rally in Pittsburgh
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Supporters of Harris and Walz
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Protester outside Harris Rally in Pittsburgh
politics. Following Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, anxiety about the role of sexism still pervades among Democratic operatives. At the same time, the reversal of Roe v. Wade and threat of further infringement of abortion protections has motivated more women to support Harris.
At her rally in Erie, Harris entered by walking down a long, straight platform to Beyonce’s “Freedom” and waved to the crowd with a big, elated smile. A diverse crowd, young and old, Black and white, looked even more elated. For several seconds, she spun around and admired the crowd.
“It’s good to be back in Pennsylvania!” Harris says.
Toward the middle of her remarks, in between adoring interruptions from the crowd, Harris reminded attendees that much is on the line this cycle.
“And we have to remember this is not 2016 or 2020. The stakes are even higher because a few months ago, the United States Supreme Court just told the former president that he would essentially be immune from anything he does while he’s in office,” Harris says. “Now, just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.” •
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CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Supporters of Harris and Walz
DERBY BRATS
After COVID forced a pivot to coed skating, this roller derby team has become an inclusive place
for people of all identities to learn the sport
BY: ATIYA IRVIN-MITCHELL // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Roller Derby is a contact sport, which is why, in 2020, when people needed to stay apart, it came to a standstill. Between the heavy breathing that comes from players zipping across the skating rink and the hip checks, Pittsburgh Derby Brats President Michele Maloney tells Pittsburgh City Paper it wasn’t safe for the ages-9-to-18 junior team to play. As a result, many of the longtime players left and never returned after the lockdown, and the team’s leadership realized it needed to pivot to attract new players.
In 2022, the leadership decided that the formerly all-female team should go coed, and, for the first time
since the Pittsburgh Derby Brats’ 2013 founding, all genders were welcome.
“There are a lot of coed leagues, so it kind of opened us up to being able to have more games, more opponents, so now it’s boys, girls, [and] anybody who wants to play derby,” Maloney says.
While many of the team’s adult volunteers have a roller derby background, it was Maloney’s oldest daughter who brought her to the sport. By her own admission, Maloney can’t skate backward, but her oldest daughter was captivated by Instagram videos of people playing roller derby and wanted to try herself. A few Google searches later, Maloney found the junior roller
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Coach Nicole Homich sets up a drill during roller derby practice.
derby team, and now she and her family can often be found at Neville Roller Drome practicing.
“We went to a practice; she immediately loved it, and we joined right then and there,” Maloney says. “I now have two kids that are skating for the Brats.”
doesn’t begin until level three.
Maloney is aware that, from the outside looking in, the sport can seem a bit rough, yet she says the same can be said of sports like hockey and football. Not only that, but Maloney tells City Paper that there are numerous rules and regulations in place to
“[GOING COED] REVEALED JUST HOW USEFUL PEOPLE CAN BE, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR SHAPE, SIZE, OR GENDER.”
Within the league, there are different levels for beginners and players with more experience. Should a player come to the game new to skating, they’d be taught basic skills, safety, and the rules of roller derby with the option to test up to the next level. Competing and contact, Maloney says, doesn’t start until a player passes the appropriate skills test, and, even then, full contact
ensure the players’ safety.
“We make sure that you know how to fall, that you know how to stop, how to hit, [and] how to keep yourself and others safe before we let you move up. Yes, people get injured, but it’s pretty few and far between,” Maloney says.
“There are injuries in full-contact sports everywhere, but we definitely make sure that safety for the kids is first and foremost.”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
Nicole Homich gives instruction during Roller Derby practice.
Someone with a longer history with the sport and the team is Nathan Russ, affectionately known as Coach Dozer due to his derby name he began coaching towards the end of the pandemic. Russ brings a player’s perspective to the position, as for the past decade he’s played for The Undead, Pittsburgh’s open-gender team. Russ tells CP coaching makes him a better player, as it forces him to look at the game holistically. From this new vantage point, Russ says that the Brats’ going coed highlighted how technical the sport is while showing the strengths different players can bring to the rink.
“I think it revealed just how useful
people can be, no matter what their shape, size, or gender,” Russ says.
“The dynamism and the speed are different; the strategies end up taking a dramatically different look because all the teams look so different from one another now, so the makeup of the different teams actually ends up creating the sort of varied styles of play across different states and different areas.”
What sets roller derby apart from varsity sports, Russ says, is that you can begin the sport during your childhood and continue playing as an adult. Additionally, Russ says the culture of the game encourages a tight-knit community where even
opponents are friends.
“You basically can make lifelong friends out of the sport by starting at this age and meeting people, and then having a lifelong friendship that started as a kid with somebody who’s on a different side of the country,” Russ says.
Maloney says that the kids take a proactive role in keeping the team, which is a nonprofit, going. The league is entirely run by volunteers and funded by fundraisers that the families put on. This year the team had to raise close to $20,000 to get the players to Nebraska.
“It’s a lot of work to [travel] halfway across the country with a bus full of
teenagers,” Maloney says. “It’s not great for the parents to go with them, but the excitement that the kids have for it just makes it all worth it.”
With the latest season just beginning, Maloney says, the most important thing to remember is that roller derby is an inclusive sport that brings like-minded kids together and allows them to forge connections that can last a lifetime.
“These kids are way cooler than I was when I was their age,” Maloney says. “It can be rough at times, but they love it. We wouldn’t put so much time and effort into it if the kids weren’t getting something out of it.”
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON
The Derby Brats warm up for practice at the Neville Island Roller Drome
“OVER TIME, YOU’LL SEE [MY VIDEOS] STOPPED GOING FROM BEING PIRATESCENTRIC TO BIGGER, BROADER TOPICS, AND THAT’S WHERE THE ACCOUNT’S AT.”
BILLY TAKES PITTSBURGH
BY: COLIN WILLIAMS // CWILLIAMS
If you’re Very Online™ like me, you’ve probably seen one of Saxboybilly18’s viral videos by now. Many, including his dim review of the Atlanta Braves’ new stadium complex and his “old world” takedown of Little Italy Days, have racked up thousands of likes. It was “The Condo Song” (180,000 likes on Instagram) that did it for me. I frequently bike through the Strip District to get to work, and I often get “dorm room for adults!” stuck in my head as I pedal past The District apartments along Waterfront Place. Saxboybilly18 is actually Bill
Stiteler. As it happens, Stiteler has a family connection to Pittsburgh City Paper — his dad, Ted Hoover, was a theater critic for City Paper and its predecessor In Pittsburgh . “[I] grew up with that paper always at the house,” Stiteler recalls.
A South Side native who remembers hearing the shift bell ring at the Jones & Laughlin steel mill, Stiteler eventually moved to New York City for a decade. Circumstances then took him to, of all places, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, before he moved back home to Pittsburgh in 2024 for a simple reason: “to stop drinking.”
Fittingly, CP met Stiteler in Brother
André’s Café, a welcoming Lower Hill spot in the spacious Epiphany Roman Catholic Church basement.
“I’m used to being in another sort of meeting in church,” Stiteler quips over coffee.
Heavy drinking in New York became dangerous drinking in Mongolia, where “vodka was, like, 80 cents for a jug.” Following a stint in rehab here in Pennsylvania, Stiteler, now 10 months sober, has packed out his schedule with not only recovery meetings, but also with Pittsburgh sports, cultural events
— and plenty of time editing videos for TikTok and Instagram.
“I started making videos again because I’d done comedy in New York for seven years, but I stopped in 2016 when the drinking started to pick up,” Stiteler says. He had a popular Vine account at the time, as well. “It goes hand and hand, my recovery and these videos.”
Under the Saxboybilly18 moniker, Stiteler has been churning out keenly observed videos that both celebrate and roast Pittsburgh culture. The process began when Stiteler started going to Pirates games “to have
“The account was originally just all Pirates, because they’ve got the Ballpark Pass,” he recalls. “I just started going to every single game.”
Eventually, that included games in other cities. “I was like, You know what? Fuck it. I’ll go to Milwaukee.” Stiteler used money from selling thrift items to fund the cheapest
“I would fly the cheapest flight possible, I’d get the cheapest Airbnb possible, and I’d just ride a bike around. You can travel pretty inexpensive,” he says. He also traveled to Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and, of course, metro Atlanta, with its trainto-a-bus ballpark in Cobb County and
I was interested in the urbanism angle this and other Saxboybilly18 videos seem to have. Beyond his critiques of Atlanta or the Strip, Stiteler has posted numerous videos exploring Pittsburgh from the saddle of his e-bike — always wearing a helmet, and usually in Pirates gear. He’s also spotlit Pittsburgh’s numerous city
. It turns out Stiteler doesn’t drive. “I don’t really like cars. I like cities and communities, and that’s why I lived in New York,” he says.
“The hack with Pittsburgh is the e-bike,” he says. “I don’t even take the bus anymore; I just e-bike everywhere.”
That has fueled an appreciation for the ways Pittsburgh does and doesn’t meet the needs of the 20% of Pittsburghers without cars.
“Everything you need shouldn’t require getting into a car and driving somewhere. Driving in a one-ton machine to go down the street to pick up a Mountain Dew, that’s just ridiculous,” Stiteler says.
“Things should be commutable or within walking distance,” he adds.
“And I get that we’re more sprawled out in Pittsburgh, but that’s still achievable here.”
These critiques are all grounded in “how freaking unique and awesome our city is. I mean, San Francisco has really amazing views, but wouldn’t
Pittsburgh be right up there?”
As the 2024 Pirates season sputtered to a close, Stiteler biked to Pittsburgh’s Central Park , the American Eagle headquarters, and one of Allegheny Goatscape’s sites. “Slowly, over time, you’ll see [my videos] stopped going from being Pirates-centric to bigger, broader topics, and that’s where the account’s at,” Stiteler says. Other recent videos include a tongue-in-cheek promo for Carnegie Mellon University and an unvarnished review of the legacy of Henry Clay Frick.
He has further Saxboybilly18 videos in the works. Some, such as the recent Frick foray, have incorporated AI music made with Suno. Stiteler still writes all of the lyrics himself and spends lots of time fine-tuning things. “It’s still kind of a mess,” he says, “but you gotta learn how to do it.” He says he’s “not a musician” (the Saxboybilly18 moniker is an inside joke Stiteler chuckles is “not worth explaining”), but, rather, a comedian, and is happy to talk about his process with viewers.
Longer-term, he’s hopeful that the traction online will keep him busy and perhaps lead to opportunities to perform. He has over 10,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 4,000 on TikTok, such that Saxboybilly18 now has fans outside the ’Burgh, and Stiteler won’t rule out a future live performance.
“My dream would be to, when I follow the Pirates on the road, get a small little 100-seater” to perform in, Stiteler says. “There are these weird pockets of cities like Cincinnati [and] Atlanta [where] the videos have done really well … It’s pretty cool.”
Following his struggles with addiction, Stiteler seems to be in a good place as we wrap our interview and he heads toward his e-bike in the October sunshine. “I just started doing it six months ago. So it’s crazy. I thought I was gonna lose the skill,” he says, remembering his Vine days. “It’s cool that I was able to pick it up again.” •
CP PHOTO: MARS JOHNSON Saxboybilly18
Humphries and the RH Factor. 2-5 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free. Registration required. carnegieart.org
ART • POINT BREEZE
IN PITTSBURGH
THUR., OCT. 31
THU., OCT. 31
PARTY • GARFIELD
Break out your scariest face covering when Mr. Roboto Project throws its COVID-Safer Halloween Mask-querade. Presented by Mask Up Pittsburgh, the event includes lots of fun, festive activities, including a costume contest, pumpkin painting, and mask decorating, as well as tarot readings, refreshments, and more. High quality masks (KF94/KN95/N95) are required. 7-10 p.m. 5106 Penn Ave., Garfield. $5-10 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds. instagram.com/maskuppitt
THEATER • DOWNTOWN
& Juliet. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., Nov. 3. Benedum Center. Seventh St. and Penn Ave., Downtown. $44-150. trustarts.org
MUSIC • ALLENTOWN
Bottlerocket Halloween Cover Show with Pitter Patter, Jon Bygone, and Straight Decline. 8 p.m. Bottlerocket Social Hall. 1226 Arlington Ave., Allentown. Free. RSVP required. bottlerocketpgh.com
MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE
Intergalactic Space Rave: Through the Wormhole with Dizgo and Grub and the
Sun Champs. 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m.
Thunderbird Music Hall. 4053 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $19 in advance, $22 at the door. 18 and over. thunderbirdmusichall.com
FRI., NOV. 1
ART • GARFIELD
Let’s Get Free presents This Is Me. 6-9 p.m. Continues through Tue., Nov. 26. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination. 5006 Penn Ave., Garfield. Free. irmafreeman.org
MUSIC • UPTOWN
Little Big Town with Sugarland. 7 p.m. PPG Paints Arena. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. Tickets start at $20. ppgpaintsarena.com
THEATER • NORTH SIDE
Prime Stage Theatre presents Great Expectations. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., Nov. 10. New Hazlett Theater. Six Allegheny Square East, North Side. $19-39. primestage.com
DANCE • EAST LIBERTY
Freshworks presents Arnita Simone: Heavy Is the Crown 7:30-9 p.m. Continues through Sat., Nov. 2. Kelly Strayhorn Theater-Alloy Studios. 5530 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Pay What Moves You $15-30. kelly-strayhorn.org
THEATER • DOWNTOWN
Quantum Theatre presents an immersive take on a German silent film with its production of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The show spins the 1920 horror film about a man driven to murder by a mad hypnotist into a “sinister carnival inspired equally by German Expressionism and the current political landscape.” Step into this terrifying dreamlike world when it unfolds in the Union Trust Building. 8 p.m. Continues through Sun., Nov. 24. 501 Grant St., Downtown. $20-80. quantumtheatre.com/caligari
SAT., NOV. 2
ART • WILKINSBURG
Francesca Woodman Smiles: Photographs by George Lange Opening Reception. 6-8 p.m. Continues through Sat., Nov. 30. Bottom Feeder Books. 415 Gettysburg St., Point Breeze. Free. bottomfeederbooks.com
EVENT • NEW KENSINGTON
Kaiju Big Battel 6-10 p.m. Preserving Underground. 1101 Fifth Ave., New Kensington. $25-40. preservingconcerts.com/shows
COMEDY • DOWNTOWN
Atsuko Okatsuka 7 p.m. Byham Theater. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $39.75-69.75. trustarts.org
COMEDY • BLOOMFIELD
World’s on Fire Comedy Talk Show with Bethany Hallam, Mike Veon, and Rob Rogers. 7 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. Brillobox. 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $20 cash-only. brilloboxpgh.com
Photographic Print Fair. 1-6 p.m. Eastern Standard Photo. 901 Hay St., Wilkinsburg. Free. instagram.com/eastern_standard_photo
ART • OAKLAND
Carnegie Museum of Art has expanded access to its vast archive of works by Charles “Teenie” Harris, whose incredible photographs captured Black life in Pittsburgh over several decades. See what the museum has in store during its Archive Concert and Celebration, during which visitors can experience Harris’ legacy through new digital projections, oral histories, displays, and more. The event also includes live jazz by Roger
ART • MT. OLIVER
The Pittsburgh Live Visual Performers Meet-Up 7-8:30 p.m. Tech25. 112 St. Joseph St., Mt. Oliver. Free. RSVP required. studioforcreativeinquiry.org
SUN., NOV. 3
FESTIVAL • OAKLAND
Slovak Heritage Festival. 12-4 p.m. University of Pittsburgh-Cathedral of Learning. 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. Free. facebook.com/SlovakHeritageFestival
PHOTO: MATTHEW MURPHY/MURPHYMADE & Juliet at the Benedum Center
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIVE NATION Atsuko Okatsuka at Byham Theater
CONVENTION • DOWNTOWN
Pennsylvania Bridal and Wedding Expo. 12:30-5 p.m. David L. Lawrence Convention Center. 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. Free with advanced registration, $10 at the door. pittsburghcc.com
LIT • NORTH SIDE
Aaron Robertson and Joseph Earl Thomas:
Utopia vs. Reality 3-4:30 p.m. Alphabet CityCity of Asylum. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free. Registration required. Livestream available. cityofasylum.org
MON., NOV. 4
MUSIC • STRIP DISTRICT
Jonathan Butler 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Doors at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. City Winery. 1627 Smallman St., Strip District. $45-60. citywinery.com
TUE., NOV. 5
EXHIBIT • NORTH SIDE
WED., NOV. 6
MUSIC • NORTH SHORE
Cold War Kids: 20 Years Tour with Husbands 7 p.m. Stage AE. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. $29.50-75. promowestlive.com
MUSIC • SOUTH SIDE
Mondo Cozmo with Jane Leo. 8 p.m.
Doors at 7 p.m. Club Cafe. 56-58 South 12th St., South Side. $25. ticketweb.com
Spontaneous Order-The Rhythm of Fireflies 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through Jan. 5, 2025. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. 10 Children’s Way, North Side. Included with regular admission. All ages. pittsburghkids.org
ADVERTISING MANAGER
JOB DESCRIPTION
• The Advertising Manager is responsible for selling advertising to credible advertisers and maximizing the performance of the sales team. This role leads the sales team, gathers and analyzes competitive market conditions, and creatively utilizes inventory to achieve sales growth.
• The Advertising Manager oversees hiring, training, performance management, budgeting, and sales accountability systems for the sales and marketing team.
• In partnership with the Editor in Chief, the Advertising Manager develops, implements, and manages marketing tactics for the City Paper’s print edition, website, and social media platforms.
• The Advertising Manager oversees the creation of the City Paper’s brand tone of voice, increasing brand awareness, generating demand, and increasing customer loyalty.
• The Advertising Manager reports directly to the President of the Pittsburgh City Paper.
• Direct reports include sales representatives, account executives, digital coordinators, and marketing coordinators.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
The Advertising Manager is accountable for:
• Setting annual budgets for the individual sales representatives to exceed department goals.
• Ensuring performance standards for all sales personnel are defined, communicated and met.
• Managing inventory, including setting rates, maintaining rate cards, and packaging promotions.
• Account management, including making joint calls, monitoring key account activity, quarterly account reviews of lists, monthly projection reviews and reading weekly contact management reports.
• Managing the development and execution of City Paper events.
• Updating the City Paper media kit and designing it in a way that is attractive to potential advertisers.
• Managing and designing campaigns to help promote City Paper to current and potential readers, focusing on using City Paper products and trade advertising.
• Encouraging and enforcing employee engagement, leadership skills, and above-average job performance within the department.
• Developing and enforcing departmental practices and procedures as they pertain to sales and marketing.
• Creating and maintaining sales incentive programs such as new business, sales bonuses, contests, team building initiatives, etc.
• Conducting weekly sales meetings.
• Following and enforcing all Company policies and procedures, including the EEO and safety guidelines, at all times.
• Performing any miscellaneous departmental duties as needed.
EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration or another related field – required
• 2 years media sales experience in the same or similar medium – required
• Experience managing people - required
JOB TYPE
• Full-time
PHOTO: JASON SNYDER Quantum Theatre presents The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
PHOTO: KOURY ANGELO Mondo Cozmo at Club Cafe
MARKET PLACE
PUBLIC AUCTION
Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its a iliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 1005 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15216 on 11/13/2024 at 11:30 AM. 1001 Dale Dabney. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com.
Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.
Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-24-8254
PUBLIC AUCTION
Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its a iliates Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a Public Auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extras Space’s lien at the location indicated: 902 Brinton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221 on Wednesday November 15, 2024 at 11:30am. Adam Flamm 1184, Julian Nutter 1189, Cameron Martin 2057 and Alexander Westover 3223. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com
Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction.
Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the property.
indicated: 3200 Park Manor Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15205 on 11/15/2024 at 1:00 PM. Leslie Johnston 3061. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.
PUBLIC AUCTION
Extra Space Storage, on behalf of itself or its a iliates, Life Storage or Storage Express, will hold a public auction to sell the contents of leased spaces to satisfy Extra Space’s lien at the location indicated: 880 Saw Mill Run Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15226, November 13, 2024, at 1:15 PM. Tannia Cortes 4041, Shawn Rumbaugh 4176. The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com.
Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.
In re petition of Stephen Joseph Zingarelli for change of name to Stephen Joseph Mauro. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 27 day of November 2024, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
ESTATE OF CRISANTI, VINCENT, A, DECEASED, OF PITTSBURGH, PA No. 022406591 of 2024. Caren Grau and James Crisanti Extrs. 116 Springbrooke Drive, Venetia, PA, 15367 Or to Caren Grau Attorney 116 Springbrooke Drive, Venetia, PA, 15367
of 2024. Elisabeth McDermott William Barrett Jr. Co Extr. 1632 Duchess Lane, Pittsburgh, PA, 15236. 211 Glendale Drive, Je erson Hills, PA, 15025
JUMP SCARE
ACROSS
1. Place to live
8. QB who was benched for Brady while on the Patriots
15. Song before a Raptors game
16. Piano ___
17. Pitched during the World Series, say?
18. Bread-winners
19. Scary stu that sticks with you
21. Cutting rooms?: Abbr.
22. They might open some doors at businesses
23. Bridge accomplishment
26. “Going Back To ___” (1989 LL Cool J single)
28. Hosts, briefly
29. Arsenal shots, at times
30. Stand-up comic with the album “Harmful If Swallowed”
32. Awaited judgment
33. Motel’s kin
34. Cunning
36. Kitchen brand with a palindromic
name
37. Sawed wood loudly
39. Rapper of the Fast & Furious franchise
41. Manuscript volume
42. Beaver’s construction
43. Birmingham bathrooms
44. “That’s enough”
45. Halloween cry
46. Yankees pitcher Luis ___
47. Red Bull rival
53. Bring to life
55. “Almost done”
56. Some appetizers
57. Country with a red and white checkerboard on its coat of arms
58. Paintings done on rotating canvases
59. Actor Choi of 9-1-1
DOWN
1. Bull’s weapon
2. Berry in some poke bowls
3. End with a ___
4. Saddled with debt
5. Time when busy people take things slow
6. “Summer of ‘69” singer
7. Word said with a bow
8. Litters?
9. Rummages (through)
10. Neutral color
11. Has for supper
12. Big name in breadsticks
13. Kayak rental
14. Hollow center?
20. Hairspray star
24. “Democracy in America” author de Tocqueville
25. Operating system with a command line
26. Is unable to
27. Dating word
28. Du Beer server
29. Find out information about 30. Box set components
31. Smelling of mothballs
32. Last deg.
35. Wrigley’s field?
38. Film where people are looking for a Chevrolet Malibu
40. Big name in camping gear
42. Hate, hate, hate
45. Perfume compound
46. Movie class?
48. West Coast wine valley
49. Plymouth ___
50. Mechanical learning method
51. Sandpaper feature
52. “I hear ya”
53. They bring the heat down: Abbr.
54. Quick shuteye
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS
Many Americans are fortunate to have dental coverage for their entire working life, throughemployer-provided benefits. When those benefits end with retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock, leading people to put off or even go without care.
Simply put — without dental insurance, there may be an important gap in your healthcare coverage.
When you’re comparing plans ...
Look for coverage that helps pay for major services. Some plans may limit the number of procedures — or pay for preventive care only.
Look for coverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to pay hundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid.
Shop for coverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.
Medicare doesn’t pay for dental care.1
That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meant to cover everything. That means if you want protection, you need to purchase individual insurance.
Early detection can prevent small problems from becoming expensive ones.
The best way to prevent large dental bills is preventive care. The American Dental Association recommends checkups twice a year.
Previous dental work can wear out.
Even if you’ve had quality dental work in the past, you shouldn’t take your dental health for granted. In fact, your odds of having a dental problem only go up as you age.2
Treatment is expensive — especially the services people over 50 often need.
Consider these national average costs of treatment ... $222 for a checkup ... $190 for a filling ... $1,213 for a crown.3 Unexpected bills like this can be a real burden, especially if you’re on a fixed income.
